Saturday, December 1, 2012

“If two men on a job agree all the time, then one is useless. If they disagree all the time, then both are useless.”
-Darryl F. Zanuck“Peace is inside all of us. We just need to share it.”
-Jacoba Barber-Rozema, (age 10)

So I am listening to the Nicholas Schreck interview for the third time. I have not yet read his book but it is on its way. As I sit and stare at the smoke drift away from the bowl in a slow singular fading, and twisting line, I am no longer really thinking about Mr. Schreck to be honest. My mind has started to wander. I am thinking about Johnny Ussery. I am also thinking about Doris Tate. I am thinking about AC and Star. Restless Souls is flashing through my mind and so is JimNY. All the people I have listened to, read, and argued with about this case and its questions. How many people from how many places have I encountered? How can some of them think so differently from me? What would my life have been like had I grown up in some of their situations? Who would I be today? These are the thoughts dancing around my mind. Crazy why don't I think about other people more often. I suppose it is because I can be selfish - one of my fatal flaws. I could probably cut down on the weed and Coors Lite as well but, I am sort of handsome and charming so all things being equal what are you going to do??

This Sunday night at 8 p.m. I am the guest on the Tate Labianca Radio Program on Star City Radio. I am very excited and thankful to the folks over there for letting me go on and say hello. I hope to be able to get my point of view out to a group of people who do not normally hear it. It is a chance to make a few more people aware of Johnny Ussery. I would like to talk a bit about the interview with Mr. Schreck, but please don’t think I am going on to attack a book I have not read, or a man I do not know. I do have some opinions about the interview and the ideas which were offered from Mr. Schreck, but only in relation to how they effect the much grander goal Mr. Schreck and I share of having us all slow down, take a deep breathe, and remember that we are talking about a terrible loss of life in this case. It was a tragedy all the way around. People on both sides lost quite a bit. He said some things that made sense. I also agree with Mr. Schreck that we have been lied to by our government. I think many of us come here to figure out how and why. But all too often in our little community, we have been doing more work trying to take each other out than trying to get to the very important questions which brought almost all of us here in the first place; TLB, the motive, and the cover-up. I look forward to talking about the case….

On a personal note:

I think it is time to get over the fighting among ourselves. I can only start with myself. I will go outside my comfort zone and reach out to those who feel differently from me. I will listen to anyone who wishes to be heard, and will give the respect to anyone who offers it in return. Nicholas Schreck might be a genius or he might be a joker- I don’t know. In my opinion the jury is still out. Either way- he is not the first person to come along and say he has the answers to this case, and maybe we should take a step back before we start killing each other over him. Like every other person who offers us answers, it is up to each of us to decide for ourselves how much credence we will put into what he has to say. Credibility is a fair thing to ask of anyone who is giving you such important information about a subject that you have been studying for so long. It is also true that credibility can come in a variety of ways. I am only interested in examining Nicholas Schreck's credibility in the same way and for the same reasons that I would anyone else who asks me to accept their ideas as facts in regards to motive of this case. I don’t personally discriminate against anyone who can help me, and am not interested in attacking him or anyone else personally whom is giving his best effort in an endeavor with the same objective as me. I want the truth and I don’t care who gives it to me. If Nicholas Schreck is on to something, and is proven right- I will praise him forever. No different than I would Sanders, Bugs, Terry or any of the others who have offered their idea of why this went down. If he ends up not being correct- people should not have been afraid to have questioned that either. I just want to know what is right and true? That is the way we have to start judging each other and ourselves in my opinion. Are we doing and saying things that are right and true? Are we asking fair questions, and are we spending our energies on things which really matter. We need to stop spending so much effort trying to change each others minds, and more time respecting the fact that we all have minds of our own. Every case in which two people don’t see things the same way- doesn’t have to end with both people seeing things one way. We can disagree and move on. There are many advantages to having all different types of people co-existing and interacting. People from both sides means information from both sides. Let’s here all the arguments, have respectful debates and let everyone decide for themselves how to judge the information. We can get along if we all just try to reach out to each other in friendship just a little bit.

The key impact of both crimes is that Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Felony Murder do not require the defendant to actually kill anyone or even be present when someone is murdered to be guilty of murder. That, of course, rather obviously is directed at Charles Manson.